“We have been close to perfect,” Max Verstappen lauds Red Bull for their recovery after a rocky start to the season
![“We have been close to perfect,” Max Verstappen lauds Red Bull for their recovery after a rocky start to the season](https://media.firstsportz.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/04222745/Adobe_Express_20221004_2223300_1.jpg)
Max Verstappen (IMAGO / ANP)
Red Bull and Max Verstappen’s start to the season was indeed not ideal: It began with a double DNF in Bahrain, and while Verstappen won the next race in Jeddah, he retired once again in Australia. This left him 46 points adrift of Charles Leclerc, but that gap quickly vanished, as the Bulls returned with a vengeance.
Speaking to Formula 1 after his title win in Suzuka, Verstappen recapped his season: “It’s been an incredible season. As a whole team, we definitely didn’t expect something like this. We had a competitive start, but we retired two times in three. It was not the best start to try and defend the title.”
But since Imola, Red Bull have been almost completely dominant over everyone (even if not in pace) during the races, as they’ve won all but 2 (Silverstone and Austria) since the championship’s fourth round. It’s quite the recovery, and after Monaco, Verstappen got hold of the lead of the championship, which he never relinquished.
The Dutchman thinks that for most of the races, Red Bull have been ‘close to perfect’: “After that, we had a great turnaround – we kept on pushing, kept on believing kept on improving the car, which was the most important area. It is why we are here today. As a team, we made very few mistakes. You can’t be perfect, but for most of the races, we have been close to perfect.”
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Max Verstappen considers Red Bull his ‘second family’
![Max Verstappen (IMAGO / Motorsport Images)](https://media.firstsportz.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/09141918/Q_1665305202-1024x576.jpg)
Max Verstappen has been part of Red Bull for nigh on eight years and has been in the main team for 6 years when he was given the nod to replace Daniil Kyvat from the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix onwards, where he proved his mettle by winning the race after the Mercedes duo of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton took each other out.
Verstappen always ‘believed in the project’: “Red Bull are my second family, they were already world champions before I joined. We had a bit of a tough time [at the start], but I always believed in the project. The whole team we have – back at the factory designing the car combined with the powertrain division – we have a really great group of people who I think can be successful for quite a few years.”
It’s been a very successful two years for Max Verstappen and the team, and they finally won the Constructor’s crown for the first time since 2013. It remains to be seen if they will start another era, or if someone will stop them doing that.
Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)